During the early 2260s, Chekov was romantically involved with Irina Galliulin while they both attended the Academy together. The two had several disagreements before they parted ways: Chekov believed Galliulin to always be too free-spirited, Galliulin believed Chekov to have always been rigid. When Galliulin dropped out of the Academy, each accused the one of leaving the other. Chekov left, but came back to look for Galliulin, who was at the time staying in the city with friends. Galliulin eventually joined the counterculture movement of Dr. Sevrin and his search for the mythical planet Eden. (TOS: "The Way to Eden")

Chekov would have likely been assigned to the Enterprise after the events of "Mudd's Women", as Chekov did not know of Harry Mudd when the crew encountered him a second time in "I, Mudd". Although the character of Chekov had not yet joined the cast during the first season, he must have been assigned in some capacity, as an off-screen encounter with Khan must have occurred during his assault in "Space Seed"; Khan recognized him over fifteen years later on Ceti Alpha V, stating "I never forget a face..." (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) Film writer Jack B. Sowards acknowledged this inconsistency was not part of his final draft, but rather a change instituted by Nicholas Meyer. Sowards script originally had Chekov reviewing a librarytape on Khan before his first encounter with him. The sequence was deleted, and the dialogue in subsequent scenes was slightly reworked, creating the plot hole. (Starlog #67, February 1983, p. 23)

On a mission to deliver supplies to a Federation experimental colony on the planetGamma Hydra IV, the six member landing party discovered that most of the colonist were either dead or close to death from rapid aging with Chekov becoming frightened upon finding the dead body of Alvin in one of the buildings. On return to the Enterprise, the entire landing party was infected with the rapid aging except for Chekov. Chekov complained to Sulu about how many times Dr. McCoy put him through a series of tests to discover why he wasn't aging, especially emphasizing that if he gave any more blood he wouldn't have any left. Spock soon discovered that the rapid aging was caused by radiation left on Gamma Hydra IV from a rogue comet. McCoy determined that the cure was adrenaline. Chekov had been so shocked upon finding the dead body that his adrenaline provided an immunity to the radiation's effects. (TOS: "The Deadly Years")

In 2268, Chekov, Kirk, and Lieutenant Uhura were captured by alien beings who used them in gladiatorial combat, which the beings wagered on. Such captured beings were known as "thralls". One of the thralls, Tamoon was assigned to train Chekov in gladiatorial combat and developed romantic feelings towards him, leading to many unwelcome advances. (TOS: "The Gamesters of Triskelion")

Chekov was killed as a member of the landing party that made contact with the xenophobicMelkotians. The Melkotians considered Humans as a disease that must be destroyed, and placed the five member landing party in a frontier setting during the time of Wyatt Earp. The away team filled the role of the Clantons, one of the two major gangs involved at the OK Corral gunfight with Chekov playing gang member Billy Claiborne. Chekov was killed by one of the Earps over a girl named Sylvia, who was in love with him, and not the Earp that wanted her. Spock realized that this simulation was not real, and thus the four other landing party members could not be hurt as long as they did not believe in the illusion. After successfully escaping the illusory Wild West setting, the landing party was transported back to the Enterprise, along with Chekov who was alive once again and the Melkotians were willing to begin talks to join the Federation. (TOS: "Spectre of the Gun")

When the ship was hijacked by androidNorman to an undiscovered planet, the Enterprise's crew discovered Harcourt Fenton Mudd who had crashed on the planet. The planet was populated by androids who wished to use the Enterprise to visit other planets, but strand the crew there. The androids tempted Chekov with a planet full of beautiful women to serve him. In the end, the crew banded together and escaped the planet, leaving Mudd with five hundred android replicas of his overbearing wife, Stella. (TOS: "I, Mudd")

Chekov was at navigation when he noticed the Enterprise navigation controls were not working, and then tried to assist Lieutenant Hadley, manning the helm, with the helm's stuck controls. The KelvanHanar then suddenly transported himself onto the bridge and put Chekov and the rest of the bridge crew into temporary motionless stasis. Two other Kelvans, Tomar and Drea, had already seized control of engineering and environmental engineering in a similar fashion. Thus began the attempted hijacking of the Enterprise by the Kelvan Milky Way Expedition so they could return to the Andromeda Galaxy. After the Enterprise successfully exited the Milky Way galaxy through the galactic barrier, Kelvan leader Rojan neutralized and reduced Chekov into a dehydrated porous cuboctahedron solid the size of a Human fist, composed of Chekov's base minerals which represented the "distilled" essence of Chekov's being, because he was considered along with most of the rest of the crew non-essential personnel. Chekov was reconstituted after Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scott, the only four of the crew who were not neutralized, regained control of the Enterprise. (TOS: "By Any Other Name")

Chekov, Freeman and a security guard attempt to arrest Kirk and Spock

After the Starnes Exploration Party children were brought aboard the Enterprise from the planet Triacus, no one on board knew that the children were under the influence of Gorgan, who had given the children the ability of mind-control. This telekinesis had already caused the deaths of the children's parents and was the way in which Gorgan hoped to achieve galactic dominance by way of other children. The children used their mind-control on Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura to make them believe that the Enterprise was still orbiting Triacus, when in actuality Chekov and Sulu had set course for Marcus XII, the intended next target for Gorgan. This also caused Kirk, unaware of the change of course and the departure from the orbit of Triacus, to have two crewmen have their molecules beamed into and spread throughout space and to their deaths. Then Tommy Starnes manipulated, by telekinesis, Chekov, Security Chief Freeman, and another security guard to attempt to arrest and put in the brig both Kirk and Spock because of false "orders" of Starfleet command. Kirk and Spock fought off Chekov, Freeman, and the other security guard, who were temporarily put in the brig themselves. Chekov was freed from the mind-control once the children were freed from the influence of Gorgan. (TOS: "And the Children Shall Lead")

Chekov in front of the bridge's main viewscreen showing a chart of the Sigma Draconis system during the search for Spock's brain

Chekov was rendered unconscious by the EymorgKara when she boarded the Enterprise and used her control bracelet in order to steal Spock's brain. After the crew regained consciousness and found Spock's body without his brain and they found Kara's ship left an ion trail to the Sigma Draconis system, Chekov placed a schematic of the system on the bridge's viewscreen. A debate ensued between Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura as to which of the three class M planets they should look for Spock's brain, with Kirk reminding them that Dr. McCoy said that Spock would have only three hours to live without his brain. None of the three planets seemed capable of supporting interstellar flight, but Kirk's best hunch of where to look came from Uhura, who found large, regular energy pulsations on the otherwise glaciated and pre-industrial Sigma Draconis VI. Chekov was part of a landing party that also consisted of Kirk, Scott, McCoy, and two crewmen who beamed down to the surface of Sigma Draconis VI. There the landing party suffered an ambush by the Morg, primitive humanoid men, until one of them was subdued by a phaser. The Morg that was hit hinted at "the Others" who gave "pain and delight", but seemingly the Morg had no mates and didn't know what a female was. Chekov then ran his tricorder and found evidence of an underground city. Kirk, McCoy, and Scott went underground and found that the Eymorg were the females of the Morg and discovered Spock's brain was being used to power the city, Chekov used his phaser to heat a rock to keep him and the two crewmen warm. McCoy was able to get Spock's brain back in his head, just in the nick of time, and they met back up with Chekov and the two crewmen leaving the Eymorg to have to start living with the Morg. (TOS: "Spock's Brain")

When Spock mind-melded with MedusanAmbassadorKollos to guide the Enterprise into normal space after being stranded in an uncharted void of the galaxy by a then-dead Larry Marvick, Spock-Kollos took over, temporarily, the helm console from Sulu and was assisted in the task by Chekov at navigation. Unfortunately Spock-Kollos forgot to put back on the visor, which caused Spock to go temporarily insane while still on the bridge. During this temporary insanity, he pushed very hard backwards both Chekov and Sulu, who were trying to help him, with Chekov landing on top of the navigation console and then to on his back on the floor. Fortunately Chekov recovered quickly and Spock did so, as well, a short time after that. (TOS: "Is There in Truth No Beauty?")

Chekov was part of an away team that beamed aboard the starship USS Defiant, which was adrift in space. They discovered that the ship was dissolving due to the effects of the interphase of that part of space. They also discovered that there had been mass insanity aboard the USS Defiant with its whole crew dead. Kirk unfortunately had to remain behind because the transporter could only beam aboard three of the four away team members. After beaming back to the Enterprise, Chekov attacked Spock on the bridge in a fit of madness. The illness then spread throughout the ship. The interphase was causing mental breakdowns in the crew of the Enterprise. Chekov was cured of his madness the same way the rest of the crew who suffered mental breakdowns did, from Dr. McCoy discovering and then dispensing a diluted theragen derivative. Spock told Chekov that it was great to see Chekov back to his normal self. The crew rescued Kirk and escaped the Tholians. (TOS: "The Tholian Web")

Near the end of 2268, Chekov was very nervous when Kirk, Spock, and Scott were forced to activate the three-part self-destruct sequence in order to force CommissionerBele to relinquish control of the Enterprise to Kirk. Shortly after in the recreation room, Chekov attended the speech by Lokai regarding how his people had been enslaved and then subjugated by Bele's people on their home planet of Cheron for many centuries. Chekov expressed surprise about this by saying to Lokai, "There was persecution on Earth once. I remember reading about it in history class." Sulu then reminded Chekov that that took place several centuries earlier on Earth and was considered primitive thinking in the 23rd century. Chekov, manning the bridge's main science station for Spock, was later the one to discover that Bele sabotaged the self-destruct program so he and Lokai ended up having their final battle on the already mutually annihilated, by civil war, Cheron. (TOS: "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield")

Early in 2269, Chekov's sight was affected when the "lights of Zetar" beings attacked the Enterprise as the ship was trying to reach Memory Alpha. Apparently as navigator, Chekov's sight was considered by the Zetarians to be the most important part of Chekov's brain to render useless in the young man during the attack. Chekov later expressed that he couldn't force himself to look at the navigation controls during the attack. (TOS: "The Lights of Zetar")

A bit later in 2269, Chekov once again encountered his lost love, Irina Galliulin. Although they were initially happy to see one another, Chekov adamantly disapproved of her new lifestyle and attempted to cast her off. She visited Chekov, who was working in Auxiliary Control assigned to help Spock locate the planet Eden, to apologize for upsetting Chekov. Her ulterior motive, however, was to subtly use him to gain his knowledge of the systems of the ship, which were later used by Dr. Sevrin and his followers to hijack the Enterprise. The two left each other once again, this time while saying "good-bye" to one another, as well as each with a better understanding of the other. (TOS: "The Way to Eden")

Chekov and Sulu refusing to comply with the captain's orders as Kirk's body was inhabited by Dr. Janice Lester in 2269

A short time after that unaware that Kirk's body was being inhabited by Dr. Janice Lester after a life-energy transfer, Chekov and Sulu started protesting when the captain extended the mutiny charges against Spock and the doctor to Scott and McCoy and ordered the death penalty for all four of them. Chekov persisted and tried to remind the captain that the death penalty was forbidden except for violation of General Order 4, which had not been violated. But the captain refused to listen. A short time later on the bridge, Chekov and Sulu took their hands off their consoles in defiance of the captain's orders to go to the planet Benecia for the internment of the prisoners. This action by Chekov and Sulu fortunately started the process of returning Kirk back to his own body. (TOS: "Turnabout Intruder")

Chekov was manning the weapons console when the Enterprise entered a wormhole created by its imbalanced warp engines. Kirk ordered Chekov fire phasers on an asteroid they were going to collide with in the wormhole, but Decker ordered that he fire photon torpedooes at it instead. Slowly, Chekov fired the weapons due to the wormhole effect but ultimately saved the ship. Later, Chekov's hands were severely burned when the ship was probed during its encounter with V'ger. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

By putting Ceti eels inside their heads, Khan made them susceptible to his suggestions, his motive being to seek revenge on Admiral Kirk. Using Chekov and Terrell, Khan was able to seize the Reliant and subsequently steal the Genesis Device.

Also in 2285, Chekov and his shipmates Kirk, Scott, Sulu, and McCoy stole the Enterprise from Spacedock (with Uhura's help) in an attempt to recover a regenerated Spock from the Genesis Planet.

The Enterprise was disabled by a Klingon Bird-of-Prey in orbit around the Genesis Planet and was then self-destructed by Kirk (with help from Scott and Chekov) to prevent its capture. Kirk and his crew later seized command of the Klingon ship, which they named the HMS Bounty.

Using the slingshot effect, the Bounty went back in time to 1986 to transport two Humpback whales to the 23rd century. While on Earth, Chekov and Uhura were part of "Team 2," assigned to locating and acquiring photons for recrystallizing the dilithium crystals aboard the Bounty.

Although the mission was a success in acquiring the necessary photons from the nuclear vessel, USS Enterprise, Chekov was captured by the ship's security. Accused of being a "Russkie," Chekov made a failed escape attempt from the aircraft carrier, only to become critically injured when he fell over fifty feet from the ship's hangar deck, running through an open hatch that led out to one of the ship's massive aircraft elevators.

In 2287, Chekov took command of the Enterprise-A and posed as "Captain Chekov" as a ruse to negotiate with Sybok for the hostages that the renegade Vulcan took on Nimbus III, while Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and a security team landed on the planet covertly by shuttlecraft, Chekov successfully distracted Sybok long enough for the landing party to launch an attack on Paradise City. Sybok later captured the landing party and boarded the Enterprise. Making his way to the bridge, Sybok confronted Chekov and took away his "pain". Afterward, Chekov became one of the Vulcan's followers. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)

Chekov, shortly before the Enterprise-A's decommissioning

In 2293, Chekov undertook his final voyage on the Enterprise-A as part of the mission to escort the Klingon Chancellor to peace negotiations with the Federation. Chekov used his investigative science background to find forensic evidence linked to a Federation-Klingon conspiracy attempting to undermine the peace talks. After the Khitomer Conference, Chekov's last duty on the Enterprise-A was to man navigation and the helm for her decommissioning cruise. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

Chekov with Kirk and Scott on the new USS Enterprise-B's bridge in 2293

Chekov was very proud of his heritage. He often noted (sometimes erroneously) that most great inventions and events ever noted in history came from his homeland, which both amused and annoyed his crewmates.

He claimed that the old Earth saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me," was invented in Russia. (TOS: "Friday's Child")

He claimed that the Garden of Eden was located just outside Moscow. He claimed that it was "a very nice place" and that "it must've made Adam and Eve very sad to leave," to which Kirk sarcastically responded with "Just... outside Moscow, all right." (TOS: "The Apple")

In addition to these, Captain Kirk once stopped Lieutenant Sulu mid-sentence, while Sulu was referencing an incident in Siberia, and told Sulu, "If I wanted a Russian history lesson, I would have brought Mr. Chekov." (TOS: "That Which Survives", in which Chekov himself did not appear)

In the novel Prime Directive, Chekov claimed that karate was invented in Russia before being stolen by the Chinese.

Chekov was played by Walter Koenig, who joined the cast of Star Trek at the beginning of TOS Season 2, and filled in what were originally intended to be roles for Hikaru Sulu while George Takei spent much of this time involved in filming The Green Berets during Season 2. ("To Boldly Go...": Season 2, TOS Season 2 DVD special features)

According to Gene L. Coon in his The Making of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry wanted to add in a young Englishman to appeal to younger demographics. However, he received a written complaint from Russian sources, who complained that Star Trek – though trying to fashion a future where the world was united – was ignoring the USSR, which, at the time, was the leader in the space race. Roddenberry soon after altered his English youth into Chekov.

On the video release of William Shatner's Star Trek Memories, Walter Koenig himself said that the Russians didn't say anything about there being no Russians on the Enterprise and the Pravda article that Roddenberry and Coon referred to likely didn't exist because at the height of the Cold War, no American programming was airing in Russia. (Allan Asherman's The Star Trek Compendium says that the Pravda journalist "[had] seen a Star Trek episode televised in Germany", but Star Trek didn't air in Germany until 1972.) According to Koenig, the character was created to add Davy Jones-like appeal to the show and the Russian heritage was added by Roddenberry because he wanted to honor the fact that the Russians were the first people in space. In his first couple of episodes, Koenig indeed wore a Monkees-style wig to look more like Davy Jones. ("To Boldly Go...": Season 2, TOS Season 2 DVD special features) Ironically, during the time of TOS in the late 1960s, Soviet teens sporting this look, derisively called "hairies" and viewed as dangerously rebellious by their elders, were often arrested and had their hair cut off by the police. [1]

Chekov was referenced in the first draft script of "Relics", an episode from the sixth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Moments after Scott was rematerialized on the USS Jenolan in the 24th century, he started to suggest to Geordi La Forge that perhaps he (i.e. Scott) and Chekov could do something related to salvaging the Jenolan. However, Scott trailed off, not finishing his sentence, upon first seeing Worf. There was no mention of Chekov in the final draft of the script, and he is not referenced in the final version of the installment either. [2]

A 24th century version of Pavel Chekov was briefly planned to feature in an episode that was conceived but not filmed for the seventh season of TNG. Writer Naren Shankar recalled how Chekov was portrayed in the story; "He returns as a prisoner-of-war from a planet where he was imprisoned for many years and finally released. Now he has come back as an ambassador to help the Federation open up diplomatic relations, like Vietnam, essentially." Chekov would have also, in the same story, formed a friendship with Worf, who had likewise been brought up in Russia. Shankar concluded, "Throughout the course of the negotiations with these people, it appears as though Chekov is sabotaging them. It turns out he is plotting to use the Enterprise to lay waste to their capital for revenge and to screw things up for the Federation because he feels they abandoned him and let these people torture him." (Sci Fi Universe, September 1994 issue)

In the first draft script of Star Trek Generations, Chekov had a total of three lines. He was aboard the Enterprise-B when it encountered El-Aurian vessels caught in the Nexus, though he didn't have any dialogue on the Enterprise's bridge. After being recruited as a nurse by Dr. McCoy and accompanying him to the Enterprise-B's sickbay with the intention of treating the El-Aurian survivors, Chekov reported to McCoy, while scanning the El-Aurians with a tricorder, that he had found "only minor injuries so far...." One of the people Chekov scanned was Dr. Tolian Soran, who roughly grabbed him. Chekov tried to assure Soran, who was desperate to return to the Nexus, that he was safe on the Enterprise. However, Chekov began to be attacked by Soran, so McCoy rendered Soran unconscious with a hypospray before he could seriously wound Chekov. Puzzled, Chekov asked McCoy what Soran had been talking about, though McCoy didn't know. Chekov returned to the bridge of the Enterprise-B and remained there until the setting of the script changed.

In Star Trek Generations, Chekov is briefly referred to as "Captain Chekov" by one of the reporters on the Enterprise-B. Chekov was referred to in the final draft script (but not in the first draft) as "Commander". He is also shown wearing a commander's pin on screen.

By the time Star Trek Generations came about, Walter Koenig felt it was finally time to say goodbye to the character of Chekov, having believed Star Trek VI would be Chekov's last appearance. As it turned out, the amount of content which was ultimately given to Chekov to say and do in Generations also pleased Koenig. "I found this attractive and appealing because there is a couple of personal moments that Chekov has in this story that were absent in what was supposedly our last appearance," he stated, "and although the story certainly isn't about Chekov, nor is any one page about Chekov, still I feel that I have been given the opportunity to invest some character into the dialogue and to leave an impression of Chekov's personality on the screen." ("Uniting Two Legends", Star Trek Generations (Special Edition)DVD/Blu-ray)

One of Chekov's costumes was added to the ScienceFictionArchives.com collection and was showcased at Paris science museum during 2010-2011 exhibition "Science (and) Fiction: Imagination Meets Reality". [3]

Walter Koenig's portrayal of Chekov, especially in TOS Season 3, heavily influenced Anton Yelchin's depiction of the alternate reality version of the character. "There's a lot more Chekov in season three, so I wanted to focus on [that] season [....] I'm indebted to [Walter Koenig] for setting me up in this great way," Yelchin remarked. "He crafted such a fun character, so I try and embrace that energy every time, and be respectful of that." (Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016, p. 84)

According to Star Trek II: Biographies, Chekov was born on 6 March 2245 in Moscow to parents Aleksei Mikhailovich Chekov and Catherine Rykova.

In the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy game, Chekov claims that prior to joining the Enterprise , he was stationed on the planet Benderi IV, where he had a commanding officer who believed getting angry was unprofessional and bottled up her rage until it exploded. He also authored several simulator missions used at the Academy.

In the novel To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh, Chekov led the security team that delivered Khan and his followers to Ceti Alpha V's surface. Khan remembers Chekov as having led a courageous but failed attempt to retake the engine room during Khan's brief takeover of the Enterprise. This coincides with both Khan's recognition of Chekov, as well as Chekov's comment in the novelization for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan that he had seen the world Khan had been left on.

The Face of the Unknown briefly depicts Chekov's longing for a new direction in his life following the events of "The Way to Eden", and ends with him deciding to transfer for additional security training, to be replaced on the Enterprise by Arex Na Eth. The beginning of the novel The Latter Fire depicts his leaving the Enterprise for training at Starfleet Academy's Reed Annex in London (presumably a tip of the hat to Malcolm Reed), and his subsequent replacement by a newly transferred Arex.

According to the video game Star Trek: Starship Creator Chekov's parents are named Andrei Dimitrievich Chekov and Larisa Irinova Chekov. He has a daughter named Kim.